Washington sunshine arrives

This lovely bud vase has winged its way from Washington State to County Down care of my lovely blip-friend Sydney! Thank you Sydney - it has brought the sunshine along with it after two weeks of rain! Sorry about the dodgy focus, but I was so excited I had to rush out first thing and take a photo. A tad hastily.

I had admired Sydney's blip of 30 April, showing little colourful vases crafted in Seattle. 'Good vases' give a percentage of sales to cancer charities, so they contribute to a 'good cause' as well as looking beautiful! Sydney has now sent a few of these vases out into blipland: a little bit of WA shared with the world.

So this was a very happy surprise for me today, a great start to the weekend! The Ards Man is scrubbing out the dingy even as I type, ready for its first foray out for the summer. He is heading to western Scotland next week for a week's racing with the chaps. The dingy has to go along for the ride as the boat will be left in Scotland for our summer holiday. Sometimes we anchor or take a mooring instead of tying up alongside at a Marina, so we need the dingy to reach dry land. The chaps' trip is not so leisurely, though I think there may be copious amounts of a famous Scottish beverage taken.

I hope you have a good weekend. Mine has certainly started off exceedingly well!